Book Repair
by Bateman01
Summary: Serena loves her quiet life. Loves her job. Doesn't want anything to interefere with her little world. How will one interview to a drop dead gorgeous man that could be her potential coworker interefere with her life in a big way? SD, AU
1. Uno

AN: Thanks to my part-time job, we now have this little fic!! My mind tends to wander while listening to music and repairing books. Hope you like. I do have this fic partially planned out. I really want to finish this one, cause it's been stored in the back of my mind for too long now. The rating is for the character's potty mouths and some….innuendo. It's purely D/S.

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or its characters. I know. Sad, but true.

'Damn alarm clock.'

Serena groggily lifted her head from her fluffy pillow and looked at her alarm clock with utter disdain for the small electronic device that was currently playing today's hottest pop tune at its loudest. She laid her head back down with a sigh and reached out to press the snooze button.

'Just 15 more minutes. I can spare it.'

It was 7:30 in the morning and she had to be up early enough to make it to her job at 9. Usually, she was already up by this time. But you see, with a deadly combination of yesterday being her 26th birthday, having a crazy girl named Mina Richardson as her cousin and three other crazy friends who all had an excuse to party….things had gotten a little out of hand. Serena could only remember bits and pieces, but she did remember an overabundant amount of alcohol being forced down her by her dear cousin and evil friends.

Serena groaned when her alarm clock went off, yet again blaring some pop song. This time, however, there was also a very wonderful aroma coming from her kitchen. It was the smell of freshly brewed coffee made by her favorite object in the apartment, her automatic coffee pot.

'I could kiss my brother for getting me that for Christmas, even if he did call me lazy and a scatter brain.' Serena thought, rising from her comfortable bed slowly while rubbing her temples to try and soothe her dull headache.

She made her way to her small kitchen, grabbed the biggest coffee mug from one of the few cabinets and poured herself some coffee. She would need the strongest coffee in existence to make it through the day.

'Never again. Never again will I allow them to drag me away to party on a work night.' She promised herself with a slight nod of her head which made the room spin a bit. The coffee wasn't doing its job fast enough.

By 8:30 Serena was dressed and out the door with her trusty iPod in hand. Her job, in the large city she called home, was only five blocks away from her apartment. So everyday, no matter what the weather conditions were like, she took the same route to the public library. The word 'huge' would not even begin to describe the Mora Shields Public Library at which Serena was employed. On the outside, the building looked like it was 100 years old, but on the inside it was very modern and classy even including its very own Starbucks on the first floor.

There were many different departments set up to run the library, from the director's office to the janitorial department. Hundreds of jobs became available when the library opened two years ago. One job in particular had caught Serena's interest. It was, after all, what she had gone to college for. There were only a few libraries in the country that had the department and she was very excited to learn that one near her hometown would soon be one of those libraries. Book repair was Serena's specialty. She could repair practically any book, even if it was falling apart at the spine or if there were pages missing. Preserving bits of history was how she viewed and described her job to others who inquired about it and she loved doing it.

Sighing to herself and still feeling the remnants of her hangover she walked up the wide, concrete steps to the entrance of the grand library. The automatic doors slid open to allow her access and she was greeted with a warm gust of air that felt wonderful and very much welcomed during the cold month of January.

Mentally scolding herself once again for letting things get so out of hand the night before, she walked into one of the many elevators and pressed the button that would take her to the fourth floor. Before the doors closed she was joined by a group of men and women dressed in business attire all making small talk about certain things dealing with the library. She recognized most of the people as her co-workers, one being the director of the library herself. Pushed to the wall of the elevator by the chattering group, Serena felt a bit out of place. She ignored the crowd and continued listening to her iPod, loving the sense of invisibility it gave her. She started to hum lightly and tap her foot. Little did she know, her actions were being observed by one of the passengers, bringing a small smile to his handsome face.

Pushing her way through the crowd to get off at her floor, Serena made her way to her office. Left, right, left, left again, and a final right turn brought her to her working station. She had her own cubicle with a computer and all the boring necessities, but she didn't like being confined to it. Instead, she spent her time at her other work table, which consisted of three large tables grouped together to form a square, another long row of tables (to set her work on to dry), and then a materials area, consisting of everything she needed for her repairs.

She smiled, noticing that Molly was standing off to the side of said work area, unloading books from a cart onto a shelf for books needing Serena's TLC. The girl was always here an hour early, so it didn't surprise Serena in the least to see her friend already hard at work.

"Hey Molly, how's it going? Not that I don't love what I do or anything, but…how is it a brand spanking new library doesn't have brand spanking new books that are all shiney and stuff?" inquired Serena, with a grin, as she approached her friend.

"Serena….you know very well that a good majority of the books we have now came from the old library. No one took care of them and that's why there're so freaking many. Look at as me giving me your next paycheck, because without books needing to be repaired, you wouldn't have one." She raised one of her elegant, red eyebrows at Serena.

"I know Mols, but when I see so many it gets me down. I mean, it just feels like I'm swimming in books. When I get done with one, I still have to process thousands more. I need a frappachino. Caramel. With extra whip cream. Badly."

"Well Serena, whining this early in the morning is a little off schedule for you."

"Ouch, that comment hurt." Serena aimed a well rehearsed puppy face at Molly.

"Hmm…right…you know that stopped working on me in like…10th grade, right?" The red haired lady grinned.

"Hmph! Fine. Then I'll just grab one of these poor books and go pout silently to myself while listening to a sad song. Don't bother to comfort me, I won't have it!"

"Serena?"

"Yes?"

"To help you out with your little dilemma, which I don't see actually existing…I've taken it upon myself to help you hire someone, who I know will be a very dedicated worker."

"What? You've actually found someone else who'd be interested in working with me? That's rare indeedy. So, who is it?"

"Well….I just set you up an appointment with him, so you can give him a kind of interview, to see if you really think he'd be up to your standards and all. But, his name is Melvin and I told him to be here around 10 today, is that ok? He's a friend of mine, so I'd appreciate it if you would do that for me."

"Ahhhh, I see……You're using me to get your new boyfriend a job!"

"He's not my boyfriend! He's just an old friend, is all. And I knew him before I met you, so no…you don't know him! He just moved back in town and I kind of told him I'd get him an interview…."

"Alright….fine. I'll do it, but only because you're you."

Molly gave Serena a quick hug and began to maneuver her cart toward the exit. "Thanks Serena, I owe you one!"

"Damn right you owe me one. I want a free caramel frappachino!"

Ten minutes later, Serena was seated and had all of her materials out to do a full book recasing for the one she'd chosen earlier. Ipod set off to her left, she began the long process of replacing the old with the new. Around 9:55, she suddenly noticed a tall figure move out of the corner of her eye.

'Hmm…such an early bird this Melvin is.' Serena giggled to herself at her own inner impersonation of Yoda. She stopped what she was doing, removed her headphones and stood to greet her potential co-worker.

"Hello there, you must be Melvin." She greeted the man standing on the other side of the table and then froze. Her mouth might have opened slightly as well, but she couldn't exactly help it. Before her stood a devilishly handsome man with short, well kept, black hair and the most incredible blue eyes. He grinned at her reaction and cleared his throat to try and bring her back from wherever her mind had taken her.

Serena could only think one thing in her frozen state: "Holy shit…I am in so much trouble."

Hm, so this seemed like a good enough place to stop. The only thing I can promise with this little fic of mine, is that I WILL continue to work on it. I can't promise any time frame for a next chapter, but hopefully it can be a monthly type of thing. Like I said, I have this partially planned out, so hopefully everything will just flow nicely. Thanks for reading! Reviews help the writer's soul flourish and uh….write more.

Bateman


	2. Dos

AN: Well, here's the 2nd chapter! Thanks everyone for your reviews, they really mean a lot. So…I know you don't have to go to college in order to repair books, because it's what I do for a job and I didn't go to college for it….but let us pretend that I'm writing a fan fic and in this fan fic I can make up just about pretty much anything I want, shall we? I wanted Serena to have gone to college for something and it sure as hell wasn't going to be biochemistry or anything she had to think too hard about. Haha! There's some math involved in repairing books, but even our loveable character can do it. Again, thank you for the reviews and I hope you enjoy this 2nd chapter of mine.

"Uh…Miss?" two minutes later, the stranger was still trying to get Serena's attention.

Upon hearing his deep, sexy voice, Serena fell back to reality with a bang and frowned because of that voice that made him even more attractive. Serena's face began to turn a deep shade of red, knowing she looked like an idiot for staring with her mouth open.

"Hahaha…um…brainfart? Anyway, it's nice to meet you Melvin. I'm Serena. If you would, go down to that empty room at the end of the hall and I'll be right in."

The dark haired man gave her a strange look, but then just smiled and walked off toward the room.

'Hmm…he doesn't look like a Melvin. Pull it together Serena! Your attraction is purely lust and….and….you're not going to let anything ruin your safe little world, dammit!' Serena stopped in her tracks when she realized what she'd just thought to herself. 'I…am such an old maid.' She got to her desk, picked up a pen and a little notebook and made her way to where the sexy man was patiently waiting on her. Approaching the little room, that was all window, she observed the man once again. How could she not?

His suit was well tailored, making Serena a little suspicious. 'Hmm…so what if he could possibly be filthy rich? Maybe he's just like me and just loves what he does….and doesn't really need the money, just something to do. Yep, that's what I'm going with.' His shoes were nicely polished, making Serena think that, if she had the chance, she could see her reflection in them. His hair…'oh that hair'…Serena shook her head slightly, in marvel. Short, black, with perfect pieces falling in his eyes. Realizing she was off in her own world again and now at the door to the little room, she took a deep breath and entered.

"Alright. Well, the interview will be very simple, because I've never really given one to anyone….so, if you would start with just telling me a bit about yourself and why you want this job?" She took another deep breath.

"Ok. I graduated from State and went to work for my father to begin training to take over the family business. That was, let's see, six years ago I believe. But I just couldn't stay away from my passion: repairing books." He gave a dazzling smile that made Serena squirm in her seat.

"Ah well…that's nice. And you waited so long to come back to your "passion?"

"Well, my father's a strict man Miss. The family business is important to him, but he agreed to let me take up a part time job."

"Oh, part time? Molly gave me the impression that you wanted a full time job."

"I'm sorry."

"No, no. It's fine, any help would be appreciated." She said with a soft smile. 'Damn this man…I can't think of anything else to ask him, I'm so frazzled.'

"Would you like to have coffee with me?" He asked quite suddenly.

"Wh…wh…what?" Not believing her hears, she had to ask. "Did you just say something about coffee?"

The curious man sitting across from her chuckled softly, making Serena squirm once again.

"Would you like to have coffee with me?" He repeated.

Raising a thin, blonde eyebrow at the man suspiciously (a skill she perfected via Molly) she looked at him like a mad man. "You're awfully forward, aren't you?"

"Well, I don't see any harm in just a cup of coffee. Do you?" He inquired, returning the gesture of the raised eyebrow.

Serena giggled softly. "No, I guess not. Yes, I'd love to have an innocent cup of coffee. Um, when?" Serena felt like jumping for joy. 'I could use a little something extra in my life, I guess. I mean, I deserve after all, don't I? Not like I'll let this turn into anything serious. It's just a cup of coffee.'

"How about in 20 minutes we meet downstairs?"

"Ok, just in time for my lunch break." She smiled at the man named Melvin, stood to shake his hand, and exited the small room.

"Oh, you did very well, I was actually impressed. Too bad you can't work full time, though. I'll be in touch with you within the next few days. Thanks for coming, Melvin."

"No problem Serena. See you in a few." The man grinned mischievously and walked in the general direction of the exit.

Over the next few minutes, Serena busied herself with putting away all of her materials and cleaning her work area. She knew she would hire Melvin, she would just give him a day to think about it more. More like, give herself time to not look like some desperate chica. 'Desperate? God, it sounds like I'm waiting around to call him back for a date.' She sighed. 'I'll just tell him when we meet for coffee that he's hired.' She smiled and finished her task, then began heading downstairs. She spotted Molly with a geeky looking fellow walking beside her. What she noticed mostly was his ridiculously thick glasses. She smiled and walked a little faster to her friend to tell her the news.

"Oh Molly? Can I speak to you a moment in private?"

"Serena, I'm so sorry."

"Whatever it is, it's perfectly fine." She pulled Molly a couple of feet away from the strange person. "Molly! Why didn't you tell me Melvin was so hot? You could've warned me!" she whispered.

"He is?" Molly looked over her shoulder at the man standing a feet away.

"Yes! Are you sure you're not dating him or anything? Cause he asked me to get coffee with him, it's an innocent cup, so I agreed. Is that ok?"

"Umm…Serena….Melvin just got here. I was apologizing to you for him being so late, but he got stuck in traffic and couldn't really help it. There was a bad wreck that blocked the streets for awhile."

Serena laughed. "What? I just interviewed Melvin about twenty minutes ago, there's some mistake."

"Well that guy over there, is the Melvin I know. I don't know who you were talking to."

Serena looked over at the guy patiently waiting to the side. He noticed her looking and gave a nervous smile. Then, she began to see red. She had been tricked, made a fool of. She began to stomp away to Starbucks.

"Serena?! What about the interview?"

"Tell him to wait in my office and I'll be back shortly!"

She found "Melvin" waiting downstairs in the large open area near the entrance, sitting on one of the many benches. He noticed her and smiled. Serena gave a forced one in return.

"Hi, Melvin. While I was cleaning up, I thought of another question to ask you."

"I thought the interview was over?" He laughed nervously.

"Well, you know, it shouldn't be all that hard. How do you do a soft plastic cover? That's easy enough isn't it? I mean, you should know it, this being your "passion" and all."

"So you've found me out, eh?" He chuckled deeply and Serena couldn't help but feel a little less angry. A little.

"Yes, I've found you out. What are you? Some kind of psycho? An axe murderer? A stalker?"

Her accusations caused the man to let out a deep rumble of a laugh that Serena felt in her chest. "I assure you, I am not what you think. I am just a simple business man and while handling some business in this library, saw an attractive woman he couldn't take his eyes off of." He confessed.

Serena blushed deeply. "Well….well, I….I'm…" she began stuttering, causing the man to chuckle once again.

"I didn't mean any harm by it. I was planning to confess over coffee that I know absolutely nothing about repairing books and would be horrible at the job. I was going to ask you for coffee when you saw me standing in front of you, but you greeted me and I thought it would be interesting to play along….and I didn't want to embarrass you anymore than you already were."

"Play along? Hmph! Well, for your info, I wasn't embarrassed just a little shocked, is all."

"I did see you blush quite often. Maybe that's when you were just embarrassed by your inner thoughts of us in compromising positions?" He grinned cheekily.

Serena's mouth dropped at his remark. "I was not thinking about anything like that!"

This caused the stranger to laugh, making Serena start to believe she enjoyed getting that reaction out of him. "Well, Serena, I would certainly be a lucky man if you were thinking such things. Would you still care to have coffee with me?"

She eyed him suspiciously. "It's still an innocent cup, right?"

"If you still want it to be." He winked at her.

"Hmph! Fine. You're buying."

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

"And it is still an innocent cup."

"Ok, well…how about you start our little innocent meet up by telling me your real name?"

"Fair enough." He made a show of straightening out his suit jacket, adjusting his tie and standing up straighter and holding out his hand. "Hello Serena, my name is Darien Shields. It is such a pleasure to meet you."

Shaking her head at his antics and smiling, she took his hand in hers for the second time that day. And for the second time, felt something she had feared for the past six years.

End chapter 2.

AN: So….I wrote this chapter in about an hour and I actually like the way it turned out. And I'm a bit proud of myself because of the fact that it took me much, much longer just to write the first chapter. Procrastination is a close friend of mine. And classes just seem to get in the way of things. D Anyway, I hope you liked the new chapter. Hopefully the next one will go just as fast. Feel free to review. Getting lovely reviews is what gave me even more motivation to write this chapter.

Bateman


	3. Tres

AN: Well hello again! Took a bit longer for this 3rd chapter to get finished. I could give you excuses, but then that'd be lame. It's just going to start taking me a little while longer to finish chapter because of classes and such, that's all I'll say. Also, I'll be heading to Spain for 5 weeks between May and June, I know it's a little ways off still, but this is just so I don't have to mention or forget to mention my longer absence from the fic in the future. But it definitely won't be forgotten!!! Anyway, enjoy the update!!!

"Darien Shields? That name sounds a bit familiar…." Serena began to think of where she could have possibly heard the name before.

Darien gave her a moment. She continued to look at him.

"Well, this should be interesting."

He felt his mouth fell open. He didn't expect that from her.

"What does that mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean. I know about your reputation with women and your supposed arrogant ways."

"Does everyone believe everything they read in those crappy magazines? And you don't know me. You've only heard things….things that aren't true by the way."

She observed him for a moment. 'I can give him a chance I guess….especially if he's going to buy me a much needed frappachino…..'

"The least you can do is give me a chance to prove my innocence."

She grinned at him. "Ok!" She grabbed the hand of the dumbfounded man and pulled him to the doors of the coffee shop and stood in the line with him. Five minutes later the two were seated at a small table discussing random things; Serena, enjoying her venti caramel frappachino, Darien, sipping the strongest coffee available.

"So the thing with the model….?"

"We went on a couple of dates and she threw a fit when I told her I didn't want to lead her on and that we should just leave it on friendly terms. Photographers had a field day while she threw said fit on the very public sidewalk outside of my apartment building."

"You told her on the sidewalk?!"

"No. Sheesh, give me some credit. She stormed out of my apartment and I, like an idiot, followed her out to try and calm her down."

"Ah….sorry." She laughed nervously. It seemed to her that he had just about as much luck with love as she did. Although, she hadn't seen anyone in a long time.

"So Serena. Find me as repulsive now?"

She laughed. "Not as repulsive. There are still the outbursts and being an arrogant, rich bastard to people."

"So I have bad moments. I'm just like everyone else, except a majority of people don't have cameras following them around. And most of the bad moments were from my younger years. I've matured a lot, I believe."

"Right…" She looked at him skeptically.

"What?! People change. It just took me a little too long to realize the errors of my ways in acting like a typical spoiled brat. Believe it or not, it was a quote from a movie that I saw with a friend a couple of years ago that got me thinking."

"Oh really? What movie?"

He mumbled something Serena couldn't make out.

"What was that? Speak up."

"Ever After."

She giggled. "Hehe! So, what was the famous quote Mr. Romance?"

"With great power comes great responsibility."

Serena nodded. "That's a good one. Can't believe you hadn't heard it before."

"Well, I never really watched movies or paid any attention to other people much. And I'm on the verge of telling you my life story. So, I'm going to stop." He chuckled to himself.

"It's ok. I'm used to complete strangers revealing their most intimate details to me." She winked at him.

Her personality was infecting him already and he couldn't suppress the grin that automatically formed. "Well, you might secretly be an undercover reporter and have a microphone hidden on you somewhere. It'll take dinner for me to get to trust you more. And I might require a full body search, done by myself of course."

Serena's smile faltered. "I can't. I'm sorry."

"What's the matter? Do you have a boyfriend who would become jealous and kick my ass?"

"No, it's not that. It's that I uh…..just got out of a bad relationship and I don't feel like doing anything remotely related to dating and….oh shit!"

"What? What is it?" Darien became worried at her sudden outburst.

"Melvin!"

"Who?"

"Melvin! I'm supposed to be giving the real Melvin a job interview. Damn…I told Molly I'd only be a few minutes and I've already been down here for twenty. Shit, shit, shit, shit…" She stood up and gathered her garbage and rushed out of the coffee shop's door, leaving a speechless Darien behind.

After a few minutes of confusion, Darien realized he hadn't had a chance to ask for her number or anything. 'Well….at least I know where she works.' He silently sat at the table for a few more minutes reading the city's newspaper and finishing his coffee. Then he too left the coffee shop and returned to work.

/////5:00 p.m. the same day///////

"Hey Molly? You wanna join me and the girls for dinner tonight?" asked Serena as she was finishing putting away all of her matierals.

"Are you buying?"

"What? No? Since when have I ever bought food for other people? You know how I am."

"Yeah…but since you left myself and poor Melvin waiting upstairs for you for no telling how long, felt like hours, while you were downstairs flirting with Mr. Hottie…I figured you'd want to make up for it by buying me dinner."

Serena stared at Molly, mouth agape. "Geez Mol….I was only gone 20 minutes and you know how sidetracked I get…..and…..he offered me a frappachino….how could I resist? You know I love them…." She tried the pouty face again, making it extra pouty this time.

The fiery haired woman just rolled her eyes at the sad face directed toward her. "Serena? Give it up already. You're saved from having to buy me dinner, cause I've actually got other plans."

Serena's ears perked up at this. "So what is that you're going to pass up a girl's night for?" She wiggled her eyebrows.

"It's nothing. Just catching up with Melvin."

"Uh-huh…sure…."

Molly rolled her eyes once again at her dear friend and gritted her teeth. "Goodnight Serena. Don't stay out too late or get whisked away by Mr. Hottie."

"I'm not the one you need to worry about." The wiggling of the eyebrows commenced yet again. Molly just sighed and left Serena to finish cleaning.

Once everything was put in its right place and the paint brushes used for gluing were thoroughly washed and left in water to soak, Serena grabbed her purse and headed to the elevators.

Waiting only a few minutes, the chime rang, and the doors to the elevator parted to allow her entrance. What she didn't count on was who she would be sharing the metal box with on her ride down.

He was shocked for a minute, but the doors began to close causing him to move to aciton. He held the door for her and gave her a grin "Going down?"

She nodded and quickly joined him.

"So how was work? No one was too mad about the interview, were they?" He asked politely.

"Work was fine. And Molly was a bit peeved, but everything's fine. Melvin got the job and I got a nice helper." She smiled at him. "How about you? How was the corporate man's day of work?"

He chuckled at her question "Things went surprisingly well. There're a few more kinks to work out on the project I'm currently involved in, but nothing big." There was a chime and the elevator doors opened once again, signaling the end of their little ride. They exited and walked toward the main entrance of the library together in silence.

Serena couldn't stand it. Here she was, walking with one of the most gorgeous men she'd ever met and she was ten feet away from leaving him behind and leaving him out of her life. She suddenly felt sick of all her insecurities and of all the things she worried about when it came to meeting anyone. She suddenly felt a jolt of bravery and stopped in her steps, causing the man walking beside her to stop as well.

"Can I use your cell phone?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure." He pulled the sleek and expensive looking device out of a suit pocket and handed it to her. She fooled around with it a bit and handed it back to him.

"Well…you have my number now….and if you ever need anything…Shit, I sound like an idiot…" She felt herself blush and she quickly found the spot on her shoes quite interesting.

"But I thought you didn't want anything to do with anything remotely related to dating" He grinned at her all cocky-like. Something she noticed and felt herself get a little annoyed at.

"Well I've decided to be a bit more open and try something new. And besides, it's just a number and not to be used for a booty call or I'll have my brother beat the crap out of you. Famous or not, he does not discriminate. Comprende? "

He couldn't help but laugh at her long winded explanation. "I understand one hundred percent. And I will be calling you Serena, trust me. Have a nice night." With that, he walked in the opposite direction and to a waiting limo.

Serena turned around abruptly and smacked herself on the forehead. 'Oh God, what am I doing?! No, no. Calm down. It was innocent enough, not like you jumped him in the elevator even though you wanted to….' She smacked herself again. 'I am still in so much trouble.' She sighed and began walking to meet up with her friends for dinner.

Fifteen minutes later, she found herself at Los Sombreros, a cheesy Mexican style restaurant that her friends loved to go to. 'It might look cheesy outside, but within the building they hold the best damn Mexican food you'll ever eat.' She found her friends at a booth in the corner, sipping margaritas.

"I can't believe you guys can even think about alcohol after last night. Makes me sick to even think about it." She said as she took her place at the table.

"Oh please Serena, you're such a light weight. You had only finished your second drink and you were about ready to take your top off and dance on top of our table." Rei replied, always the one ready and willing to start an argument.

"I was not." Serena replied ever so eloquently.

"Ha! Right. I've got the pictures to prove it."

Serena couldn't believe it. "You better burn those."

"And get rid of the perfect blackmail material? I think not."

And so it began, the ritual argument between the most stubborn girls of the group. A small woman with short blue-black hair, reading a rather large text book looked up for a moment, sighed, and returned to her reading.

"Can't you guys ever be around each other without arguing?" asked Ami.

Rei stopped and looked at the woman. "Can't you ever go out with us without bringing along a library of medical textbooks? Seriously Ami, you're out of college now and you're a genius. Why must you still constantly study?"

Serena giggled. Ami's cheeks flushed a light shade of red. "For your information Rei, the medical world is constantly changing, so I have to keep up with things going on or I'll be left behind. It's my job."

"Yeah, but Ames…all the time? Even when you're supposed to be having a good time with friends?" asked the brunette, Lita, sitting next to Ami, who had been watching and listening to the conversation.

Ami, giving up, just sighed and put away her overly large book. The other three girls grinned in satisfaction.

"Hey, where's Mina?" asked Serena.

"She called me before you got here and said she'd be a little late and to go ahead and order," answered Lita

Serena drew her eyebrows together. "Hm…that's not strange at all. Mina? Late?" She was interrupted by her cell phone going off. She dug through her purse, finally locating it and answered it.

"Hello?"

"So I was paranoid over nothing." Spoke the voice on the other end.

Serena recognized the voice immediately and grinned. She didn't notice the other girls watching her.

"What were you paranoid about?" she asked.

"Just thought you might've played an evil joke on me by giving me a number to a take-out restaurant or something."

Serena giggled and began playing with a piece of paper lying on the table. The girls looked at one another, each had an eyebrow raised in question.

"Nah, I'd never do that to someone….well, I might. But, I deemed you worthy of the real thing. Happy?"

"Extremely." He chuckled and Serena shivered, hating and yet loving the reaction he gave her just by his voice. "Well, I'll leave you to whatever it was you were doing. Goodnight again, Serena."

She smiled. "Goodnight Darien." She'd realized her mistake as soon as she closed her phone, disconnecting the line. She'd had the conversation in front of her friends and had said his name, confirming that she was, indeed, speaking to a guy. She watched as her friends leaned in closer, making her feel like running away at full speed.

Rei was the first to speak. "Alright Serena. Spill."


	4. Quatro

Disclaimer:: I do not own Sailor Moon. Still sad and still true. I do own this plot, however. So things might look up….or something. I'm just trying to cheer myself up.

"I have nothing to say to you." Serena crossed her arms over her chest and stared at the small piece of paper on the table she had been playing with during her phone conversation with Darien.

As if on cue, the friend they'd been waiting for, Mina, walked up a little out of breath.

"Phew! Guys, I think I need to start doing some cardio or something, I…"

"Mina! Serena was just talking to a guy on her cell and being all flirty and she's not telling us anything about him!" Raye interrupted. She was pointing an accusing finger in Serena's direction.

The accused's mouth fell open at the accuser's childish reaction. Serena sat forward on the edge of her chair sending a death glare at Raye. "You're such a tattle-tale Raye. There's nothing to tell!"

"Oh please! I wish I could rewind the past 5 minutes to show you how you were acting." This comment of the raven haired woman set off another angry argument. Mina swore she saw a bolt of electricity pass between the two.

"OK. Children please calm down. This really is getting kind of old. Raye? Leave Serena alone. Serena? Chill out. We're your friends and we're always going to watch out for you. Why can't you say anything about your mysterious man friend, hm? We always dish on our dates." Mina tried to calm the storm. "Besides, we know you. If you were acting anything like Raye described, then it has to be someone special." She looked at Serena and made a face that made the shorter blonde began to feel guilty.

'How the hell does she do that?' Serena asked herself, not believing she was actually about to tell her, sometimes too concerned for their own good, friends. She settled back down into her chair and crossed her arms once again.

"I met him at work."

Every face at the table was looking at her in anticipation. When she didn't say anything further Mina decided to give her a push. "And?" Serena gave a loud sigh.

"His name's Darien." Lita helped.

"And she obviously just gave him her number today," said Amy, feeling helpful as well.

Serena glared at them both and rolled her eyes. "Look. It's nothing serious and nothing else has happened. I just met him today and we're friends. That's. It."

Mina raised her eyebrows in surprise. "You just met him today and you've already given him your phone number? And your cell number at that? You hardly ever give that out."

Raye grinned and gave Serena a knowing look. "He must be one hot male specimen. I'm impressed Serena."

Serena, lightening up at that comment, grinned as well. The other girls all began to laugh at her reaction.

"He was so hot. But I swear to you there's nothing going on. We just kind of hit it off and it's completely innocent. A friendship."

"For now." Lita said with a wink.

"Look. Nothing is going to happen. I'm not ready for it. Can we drop this now?" Serena's face turned into a scowl. She hated that her friends were reading too much into her new friend. 'I might be attracted to him, but I'm also attracted to that guy that works in the bagel shop. Am I not allowed to be attracted to guys and just…look? Sheesh. True, I've never acted upon an attraction. But…Darien was different for some reason. Or maybe it was just because he approached me first?' She felt a hand touch her shoulder. She looked at it and then into the eyes of it's owner. Mina's gaze was one of complete understanding and friendship. When Serena looked at her other friends at the table she saw the same look in their eyes. She felt overwhelmed at that moment and could never in a million years imagine her life without the four other women sitting with her.

"Serena, we know you'd never do anything you weren't ready for. I'm sorry for pestering you about him. But you would tell us if there was anything going on right? We'll always be worried about you, so get used to it." Mina said this with a cheeky smile and there were other nods of agreement around the table and other similar smirks.

The petite blonde gave a small smile. "I know. And I will. At least I'll try to keep you updated. Can we order now?"

"You didn't order me any food?! I told you guys to order without me! Ugh! I'm starving! Do you know fast I ran over here to try and get here on time?" Groans rose from the other girls as they listened to the dramatic display being put on by the spunky blonde.

Serena watched as Raye started in on Mina and as Lita was thrown into the fuss. She laughed at the craziness of it all. 'I wouldn't trade it for anything.'

&&&

Three days.

It had been three days since the infamous phone call from Darien. That was the last time she spoke to him. The thought of calling him had crossed her mind, but she didn't want to make herself seem desperate or anything. Or make him think that he was completely irresistible to her and that she wanted to jump him…..That thought had made her blush more often than she cared to admit and at the moment it was a bit embarrassing in her current surroundings. She had agreed to cover for Molly for the afternoon this day so that she could help Melvin look around for an apartment. It sounded more than a little suspicious to Serena, but she knew all too well the feeling of having people pry into your personal life, so she'd left the subject alone. She would leave it until she had a better opportunity to talk to her about it.

So here she was, sitting at the front desk…cheeks flushed the color of a tomato. She was able to stay busy for the most part, checking out books to people and checking them back in. She occupied herself by looking over every book that came back in, to see if they needed any repairs. This was Molly's job in the afternoon, to which Serena was grateful she didn't have to work her morning shifts as well. Every morning, Molly could be seen flying around the whole library, doing various jobs, helping to keep the library up and running.

Things were beginning to slow down when she spotted him. It completely by chance that she caught his tall frame and raven black hair in the group of suits…ok, who was she kidding? She saw him the moment he got off the elevator. The group of business men and women stopped short in front of the grand entrance, all talking in a serious fashion. She realized that Darien looked tired and had a look on his face of irritation for the man he was talking with. Not ten minutes later, the group broke apart and exited the library. All but one man, who stood watching the others leave. He rubbed his face with his hands, then ran his fingers through his hair. Then, their eyes met and he smiled. The gesture made Serena's breath hitch. She became fidgety when she realized he was walking over to her.

"Hello there beautiful."

Serena couldn't help but smile and give him her complete attention.

"You know? I'm in great need of help," he said casually, but his face turned to a pitiful look.

"What's wrong?" asked a worried blonde…who had taken the bait.

He leaned over the desk, looking Serena straight in the eyes, his look one of utmost seriousness. "Well you see….I made this dinner reservation for tomorrow evening, which is a Friday might I add, for myself and this beautiful woman who I can't get my mind off of lately. And my problem is, that I haven't even had the chance to ask her if she would like to have dinner with me. What's a guy to do?"

Serena frowned and looked down, picking up on his hint. "Maybe you should find someone else who you know will say 'yes'."

He stood up straight once again with a frown of his own. "I don't want to take anyone else. Serena? I just want a chance. One night is all I'm asking for."

A woman came up to the desk needing to check out a couple of books. A chance to break away from the conversation for the moment was welcome to Serena. Going through the mechanics of releasing the books from the library, she saw nothing put the problem in front of her. Half of her wanted to run in fear from Darien because of the feelings he was causing her to have so fast. The other half, wanted to jump over the front desk and into his arms and give him a mind blowing kiss. It took her a moment longer to realize that the woman had gone and that Darien was in front of her again, waiting for her response.

"I would say not to look at it as a date, but just as two people having a nice dinner, no strings attached. But I can't. That's not what I want from you Serena. I want the chance for us to get to know one another better. You're different. I don't why I feel this way when I haven't even known you a week, but I do. And frankly, I don't think I can ignore it for your sake. I can tell something's happened and you've had a bad break-up, you don't really need to be a genius to see that something's bothering you. Not every person is alike. You should've realized that by now. Not every guy is the same." He finished with a sigh. "Look. I'm going to be at this restaurant tomorrow evening at eight." He took a sheet of scrap paper and a pen lying to the side and quickly jotted down the name of the restaurant. "I'll be waiting for you Serena." He took her hand and placed the piece of paper in it. He gave her one last look and then left.

Serena stood in the same place for what felt like a millennia. The only thing snapping her out back to the present was another person wanting to check out books.

She had a lot of things to think about before tomorrow evening.

&&&

8 p.m. Friday evening

Darien Shields sat at a secluded table for two in an uptown restaurant, patiently waiting. Maybe not patiently, if you could've seen under the table you would've seen the heel of his left foot moving up and down very rapidly. He wasn't agitated. Nope, far from it. Darien Shields was nervous as hell. He hadn't expected her to be on time, he grinned to himself thinking back to their first meeting when she rushed out of the coffee shop, late for a meeting.

His foot continued it's rapid pace.

8:20 p.m. Friday evening

After finishing a second glass of wine, he had lost all hope of her showing up. He asked the waiter for the bill, paid for his two drinks and stood to leave. When he looked up from putting a rather generous tip on the table, he became breathless.

'She made it and she looks so beautiful.' Was his first thought.

"Hi." She said quietly.

"I didn't think you were coming." He grinned. "I'm glad you did."

"I've actually been here since eight. But, I've been pacing back in forth in front of the restaurant trying to decide if I should come in. The hostess thinks I'm crazy." She bit her bottom lip nervously and looked at the floor. When she felt his hand take hers, she looked up at him.

"I'm happy you decided to come in." He smiled tenderly at her. Serena felt her heart soar.

He helped her into her chair and waved the waiter over. They chose their drinks and meals and were left alone once again when the waiter left.

She saw that he was about to say something, but she stopped him by speaking first.

"I know I said that I didn't want to do anything remotely related to dating when you asked me to dinner the first time we met. And yes, I've gone through a bad relationship. But….meeting you…I don't know. You've changed everything really. And when you said you didn't know why I made you feel different? Well, that's exactly how I feel. I'm scared out of my mind about being here. I like you Darien and I realized about 5 minutes ago that I would be a complete fool to not come in and give you a chance."

He sat quietly for a moment taking in what she had said. Then he took her hand that was lying on the table and intertwined their fingers together. He smiled at her and she at him. This was the way they stayed until their waiter brought their food orders.

AN: Woo! Chapter 4 finished! I'm quite relieved that I finally finished it. Forgive any grammar mistakes, as the story was written too early in the morning….part of it, anyway. I plan to go back later and correct things. There is more to come, but when it will get here? That is another story. I'll be leaving this Friday, out of the country and won't be back until late June. I know it frustrates readers to wait so long for a chapter, believe me I know how it is, but I will try my bestest to get another chapter out within the week of my return. To my reviewers and readers: I love you and I continue because of you. Thanks for the support. Hasta luego!


	5. Cinco

After having dinner and just sitting and talking for a long while, the couple decided to call it quits for the night. Darien paid the bill and left a generous tip, then guided Serena outside.

"Where did you park? I'll walk you to your car." He asked, looking around.

"I don't have one, got here by cab." She answered, looking around as well.

His gaze finally fell upon her, which she felt so she gave her attention to him as well.

"I'll give you a ride home then."

She raised one eyebrow at him. "What? And let you gain the knowledge of my address? I don't think so."

He laughed warmly, shaking his head and she smiled. Taking her hand in his, he led her to his black, very sleek, and very fast looking Porche. Serena smiled in appreciation.

"Nice wheels. This the one you take out every time you go on a date?"

He opened the door to her side and waited until she was seated to answer. "No, actually. I've always used the limo for dates. I drove myself tonight….well, because I didn't want any sort of interruption. Impressing you with my car might have been a small part of the plan as well." He grinned cheekily at her and closed the door.

Moments later he was seated, buckled in, and making his way to the address given to him. A comfortable silence fell upon them. That is, until Serena began messing with the stereo to find a good song. She noticed a cord coming from an area near the stereo and asked if it was a connection for an iPod. He nodded and she pulled out her trusty mp3 player, connected it, and chose a song.

"You know? That's exactly the way I first noticed you."

She gave him a questioning look, signaling him to give an explanation.

"The day we met, I'd actually noticed you on the elevator ride up that morning. You had your earphones on and were trying to ignore everyone else in the elevator. You even started nodding your head to the song you were listening to. I found it amusing, needless to say," she blushed at this comment, "but you made me wonder all sorts of things about you. It's funny really. When I came upon you working that day, I was surprised that I'd seen you again. I had no idea you worked in the library. And….well, you know the rest of it."

He finished his recollection of that morning and glanced in her direction only to find her staring at him with a small smile on her face. He grinned sheepishly and actually blushed. He never blushed. When he glanced back at her, she had her head down and had the same small smile upon her lips.

"Not being able to know what you're thinking right now…it's torture. Penny for your thoughts?" He grinned.

"I'm thinking that I might be getting in over my head. But at the same time I can't help but dive in further. I need this, us, to go slowly. I told you that I'd just gotten out of a serious relationship, right?" He nodded his head yes. "Well, it's actually been about six years since my last relationship."

He didn't really know what to think about what she had said, so he didn't comment and let her keep talking to him.

"I….well, I just don't really like to talk about it, even to my closest friends." She turned her head and stared out of the passenger side window.

Darien reached over and covered both of her small hands that were crossed together in her lap with one of his and squeezed gently. "I'm here Serena and I will be until you get sick of me. I'm not exactly sure how long that'll take." He grinned at her and then his voice took on a more serious tone. "You don't have to tell me anything you're not comfortable with. But I do hope I'll be around long enough for you to get comfortable with me." He brought one of her dainty hands to his lips and kissed it very lightly, then intertwined them together and they stayed that way for the remainder of the ride.

&&&&&&&

The next two weeks seemed to fly by. The two spent any spare time they could together, getting to know one another, taking things as slowly as possible. They talked about the most random things, from favorite color to favorite type of music to favorite type of food. Most importantly, Darien set out to set the record straight about any tabloid stories she had read.

"You know? Deep down I never really did believe that you had fathered five children by the time you were 17." She gave herself a mental pat on the back for keeping a straight face. They were sitting at what they now referred to as "their table" at the Starbucks in the library, both sipping their usual drinks.

Darien rolled his eyes and sighed. "There was a point in time I stopped paying attention to any magazine article printed about me, because I knew they'd be completely ridiculous, but I never could really get away from it all because people would always bring it up. I will say though, that some of them printed around and before the time I was 21, might hold some truth to them. And I can't believe you're drinking that frozen drink again, when it's snowing outside."

"Hey! Don't question it, ok? It's warm enough in here and I don't have to go back outside anytime soon. Now stop getting sidetracked and finish telling me about your wild days." Serena sipped on her caramel frappachino, looking at him expectantly.

He shook his head and sighed again. "I was still a stupid kid. I was your typical college frat boy, so I partied a lot and drank a lot. And before college I was at a private school for the insanely rich, so I was surrounded by spoilt brats just like myself."

She raised one eyebrow in confusion. "So how is it you managed to become to be the person sitting in front of me? I mean, everything you did when you were younger was a constant topic among my friends and myself, because let's face it you were like the top star back in the day, the hottest guy around, breaking hearts in every city you visited. And you weren't even in a movie and you didn't record an album or anything. That part I never really got….but…." She was talking really fast and had to stop to take a breath, but she still looked at the man sitting in front of her with shock. "Hell, I barely recognized you when we met and that's only because you dropped off the face of the earth for what? Four years or so? And you really do look different…..More mature or something. I don't know." She took another deep breath and then started sipping on her drink again and thinking to herself.

Darien Shields was at a loss for words. It was like she'd had the conversation with herself only, even though she was looking straight at him the whole time. He couldn't help the fit of laughter that he broke into.

She looked up, shocked again, by his reaction. "What? What'd I say?" She was answered with even more laughter

Once composed, he noticed someone standing on the other side of the glass window out of Serena's view and she very obviously knew Serena. "I think any more stories of my life will have to wait. There seems to be someone that needs to see you…" He stood up and collected their trash.

Serena turned around looking for the person he was talking about and froze. There stood Rei, arms crossed and foot tapping angrily and a look that would make the biggest, meanest lion run away with its tail tucked between its legs. Serena turned back around immediately and gulped. She knew this would happen at some point, but she didn't think she'd ever really be ready for it or that it would happen this way. And that was her reasoning for never telling her friends. Molly only knew because Serena had broken down and begged Molly to help her pick out an outfit for her first date in six years. And Molly was the one she trusted most not ask her millions of questions about her new…."relationship." Just then her phone rang.

"Hello?" Serena answered quietly.

"Serena, you need to leave Starbucks now! I kind of let slip to Rei that you were down there and that you weren't alone and I'm SO SORRY!" Molly's anxious voice came through loud and clear, so loud that Darien could also hear her. He knew who Rei was from Serena's description and could only smile sympathetically at the now very pale woman getting a late warning from a loyal friend.

The petite blonde groaned. "It's too late. She's already here." She was desperate and needed to find a way out. "Quick Molly! Is there another exit from this place that won't set off a fire alarm?!" The answer Serena received was one she already knew, but was still hoping someone had built a special escape door for just this type of situation. "It's ok Mols. I'll just have to deal with it now." She hung up and then stood, facing Darien. "If you don't see me tonight, don't hesitate to think that my body's sleeping with the fishes somewhere, ok?" He chuckled and took her hand, leading her outside to her friend.

&&&&&&&

AN: I know it's been a helluva a long time since I've updated, but writer's block is a bitch. shakes fist at writer's block I thought I had this story planned out, but I kept getting so many ideas and changed my mind so many times. But put aside your worries, dear readers. I feel that I finally have the plot that I'm happy with. I'm not going to make any promises about updating, since classes are starting back up and I seem to not be able to keep any promise of updating I make, but I am going to try my very hardest to write as much as I can and not keep you waiting for 5 months (or was it longer…?) ever again. I hoped you enjoyed the chapter! And thank you so much for those of you who took time to review my little fic! Hugs and kisses to you all!!!!!


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